Page 18 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2009

18 The Story of Flight 93 18 The Story of Flight 93 Flight Data Recorder Found it began a journey that would end not in San manager for the Fish and Wildlife Service, at Pennsylvania Crash Site Francisco, as planned, or smashing into some flying home from his grandmother's 100th- Washington target, but in an aching glory. birthday party. The Good Housekeeping September 13 2001 Since Sept. 11, the story of the magazine marketer, on her way back from her Continues From Page 17 passengers who fought their hijackers on Flight grandmother's funeral. 93 has become an icon of good thwarting evil, a There was the advocate for the disabled, story of sacrifice and courage that a nation has who stood less than 4 feet tall and carried about what brought the plane down. embraced in a time of fear and uncertainty. herself like a giant. The retired restaurant Earlier this week, Pentagon officials No one will ever know exactly what vigorously denied initial reports that a military happened on that plane. But new interviews worker, flying to San Francisco to claim the body of his son, killed in a car crash on his fighter had shot down the United Airlines jet. At a news conference on Thursday with the family, friends and co-workers of honeymoon. The toy-company executive who morning, Crowley told reporters that FBI passengers who made last-minute calls give a sported a Superman tattoo on his shoulder. Almost one-third of the people on Flight investigators had not ruled out the possibility. more complete account of their desperate 93 were there by the slimmest of chances: struggle. But he later retracted the statement, saying At the same time, questions emerge cancellations, bad weather and simple changes unequivocally ``there was no military about the role of the fourth hijacker and raise of plan. The pilot, Jason Dahl, who had learned involvement in what happened here.'' the possibility that instead of a single plot to to fly before he could drive, rescheduled to get Several passengers managed to telephone people on the ground to report the overcome the terrorists, passengers and flight home to Colorado early so he and his wife could attendants in different parts of the plane may fly to London for their anniversary. hijacking. Accounts described three hijackers Among the passengers and crew, claiming to have a bomb and a plan by have hatched separate plans. While most authorities say, were four young men who had attention has focused on a group of tall, athletic passengers to overpower them. There were also reports that one man heard an explosion. men who apparently planned to rush the trained for months and perhaps years for this moment, learning how to fight in small spaces hijackers, at least one flight attendant told her If they are going to take the plane down, then we are going to have to do something,'' husband she was boiling water to use as a and fly jets, lifting weights and reciting weapon. prayers. Deena Burnett of San Ramon, California, The clues from the wreckage are small: They all sat on the plane, delayed by the quoted her husband as saying during a cellular a knife concealed inside a cigarette lighter, a airport's heavy morning traffic, as American phone conversation moments before the crash. The Pennsylvania state police said manual of prayers and instructions written in Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight debris from the crash had shown up about 8 Arabic, a cockpit-voice recorder, still under 175 left Boston. They sat there as American analysis, that reportedly holds a garble of Airlines flight 77 left Washington. miles away near a residential area where local American and Arabic voices. At 8:42 a.m., Flight 93 took off, light media quoted some residents as seeing flaming But the key to whatever took place on with passengers, heavy with 11,000 gallons of debris from the sky. Flight 93 may be the 41 minutes it sat on the jet fuel for its cross-country flight. Nicole But investigators were unwilling to say ground. Miller's boyfriend watched it leave from his whether the presence of debris in separate It gave the passengers enough time to places evinced an explosion. State Police Major hear about the three other hijacked planes that own plane, as it sat on the tarmac. Six minutes later, the north tower of the Lyle Szupinka said debris found in the residential area was small enough to have been smashed into the World Trade Center and World Trade Center erupted in flames. For the next 30 minutes, it appears, Pentagon that morning. carried by air currents after impact. In fact, much of the debris recorded at The delay took the plane off the precise Flight 93 soared west across Pennsylvania as the crash site so far was said to be in pieces no schedule the terrorists had likely relied upon havoc erupted behind it. Flight attendants, passenger accounts suggest, poured coffee and and put it on one that gave the passengers and larger than a briefcase. A team of archeologists crew knowledge, knowledge that incited them served breakfast. were at work digging for evidence in the huge to fight back and to say goodbye to loved ones One of the attendants, CeeCee Ross crater left by the crash, using their skills to before the jet plunged into a reclaimed strip Lyles, was at the beginning of her career. She uncover pieces of evidence from mounds of mine in Pennsylvania, taking with it everyone had dreamed of being a flight attendant since dirt.[] aboard. she took her first plane trip at age 6 but had just It was 5 a.m. Tuesday and still dark realized her dream a year ago, leaving after six The heroes of Flight 93: when Deborah Welsh's husband carried her bag years of work as a police officer. Another, Interviews with family and down the stairs of their second-floor walkup in Sandra Bradshaw, was thinking about leaving friends detail the courage of Hell's Kitchen in New York. her job so she could stay home with her Welsh, who had been a flight attendant children. everyday people. for more than 25 years, usually avoided early- At some point, before the plane reached morning flights, but she had agreed to trade Cleveland, the hijackers took over the plane, shifts with another worker. armed with knives and the threat of a bomb. By Kim Barker, Louise Kiernan, Her husband, Patrick, wasn't even sure Around 9:30 a.m., air traffic controllers and Steve Mills © Chicago where she was going when she set off for the in Cleveland heard someone in the cockpit say, Tribune bus, wearing her uniform and the navy cap that "Hey, get out of here!" a source said. Then a he jokingly said made her look like the sailor on voice, in what was described as a thick Arabic the Cracker Jack box. accent, was heard that appeared to be October 2 2001 At a friend's home in New Jersey, addressing passengers, even though it was public-relations executive Mark Bingham, radioed to air traffic control. They waited, the way people wait on a scrambling to pack his old college rugby duffel "This is your captain," the man said. plane. bag after oversleeping the 6 a.m. alarm, forgot "There is a bomb on board. Remain in your You can picture them spreading out his belt. seats. We are returning to the airport." inside this mostly empty flight to San Francisco, Nicole Miller, carrying a purple How the hijackers overpowered the the smokestacks and cranes of the Newark backpack stuffed with her textbooks, set off pilots remains unclear.One passenger would skyline looming outside their windows. with her boyfriend, Ryan Brown, hoping to report in a telephone call that two people lay on You can hear them working their cell switch their separate flights back to California, the floor in the first-class cabin, either injured or phones, calling their friends, their offices. so they could fly together. dead. For 41 minutes they waited on the And so it began, people making their tarmac to take off. Two pilots, five flight way to Newark International Airport, Terminal attendants and 37 passengers. Among them, A, Gate 17. The Story of Flight 93 four men knew they were all waiting to die. There was the Japanese college student When United Flight 93 finally took off, and the German wine expert. The refuge Continues on Page 19